To my knowledge flaked is raw. The raw grain is pressed to allow the enzymes from the pale malt entrance to the starchy goodness locked inside.

Some where a while back I had read that the Guinness brewery used to use flaked barely so to me this isn't that big of an issue. The article went on to say that presently the brewery buys all of its grain and then separates some raw and then malts and roasts the other. So the amount that the brewery roasts the grain is now a factor also. The raw is milled with the rest of the grain in new state of the art mills with extremely hard mill heads. Since my mill is well.... it's not state of the art, the flaked is the only way to go. I also used Wyeast's Irish Ale.

The method of using the malt vinegar has gone well so far. I have yet to do a side by side taste test with Guinness, but it tastes quite good. I haven't approached the sourness level of Guinness because I'm looking for other off flavors when I do this. I'm convinced that the chocloate flavor will mask any off flavors when aged in large quantities. Right now I just pour enough malt vinegar to cover the bottom of my pub style thick pint glass. I then dispense the beer on top, this gets the vinegar mixed into the beer. It also gets any off the sides of the glass, which eleminates any vinegar smell.

Currently I'm mixing an extremely watered down lawnmower beer with the stout. About 10% of this is added at the top of the glass. I then call the mixture EMF Guinness. If this beer is tried without the lawn mower beer and any sour the brew seems a bit roasty, but with the sour, and nitro its great!
I know that mixing beers may be a cheat. But it gets the flavor where it needs to be. I'm going to change things around a bit, but in the end mixing at the tap may be the only way to get as close as this mixture tastes IMO.

After brewing that other brew Let me know of your impressions and any adjustments. Thanks

Well, the interesting thing about the 135 rest is Palmer says if you don't have greater than 25% un-processed (raw) grain it will give you a thin beer. This recipe and the quoted recipe from the BYO article say 25% flaked barley so this recipe is right at the cusp and you know Guiness does the rest. I'm going to brew this Sunday and stick to RiClarke's method but I may brew it again and try the early mash temp rest.. The article about Guiness gave this mash schedule:

Yeah I can tell you it does just that, but 10% roasted is a bit high. I used those temps and rest times exactly. Along with 65% pale bries 2nd row, 25% flaked, and 10% roasted. I had also checked out Palmers say so on temps, and that's why I gave it a go. The color is just abit to dark also. I used

Just put the fermenter to bed with a blow off tube... got 73% eff and ended at 1.053... which I also noticed that Riclarke got too... I think if 1.051 is the true intention of this clone we need to reduce the grain bill a tad. Meanwhile I have been reading up on the mystical Guinness and its first incarnations were up around 1.070 but at the turn of the last century they watered it down a bit.

I went the route of the 'soured' Guinness for 4 days... boiled it and added it to the final minute of the boil...

I used a 700ml starter of Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) and I'm ready for the fireworks to begin...

Sounds good. The more I play with the malt vinegar, the more I think there must be a better solution. I remember reading in an article on Guinness that the brew masters mix batches to get the flavor right. This could be a cover for adding some of their soured beer extract, who knows?
When reading some of these articles I'm not sure if it is coming from a person who knows brewing or a Technical writer who really doesn't know what he or she's talking about. A real good example is on the Guiness website currently. Under the Guinness Draught section, look for how we make it, I do this periodically at Guinness and Samuel Adams for give aways and insite. Guiness currently says that at the boil they add there hops and roasted barley.Hmmmm is right. I'm not sure about this you make the call..... I'm thinking of trying it but I'm a little afraid of off flavors and tannins. Any thoughts??

Guiness currently says that at the boil they add there hops and roasted barley.Hmmmm is right. I'm not sure about this you make the call..... I'm thinking of trying it but I'm a little afraid of off flavors and tannins. Any thoughts??

Guiness currently says that at the boil they add there hops and roasted barley.Hmmmm is right. I'm not sure about this you make the call..... I'm thinking of trying it but I'm a little afraid of off flavors and tannins. Any thoughts??

Considering you can't copyright a recipe they certainly are the tricksters... so much myth regarding this brew. Water from local river, water from Mountains, secret ingredients, better tasting their than here, magical healing powers, etc. etc. As legendary as it gets. I computed out their hops and it worked out to about 1.6 oz per 5 gal. but yet I have some published sources that claim their IBUs near 50. William Moore's beginners guide to brewing has Guinness OG at 1.050 and IBU at 50 25% hoppier than this recipe. But less ABV... who knows.. I want some of the real guinness that was 1.070.. I'm sure we can make that happen...

I'm going to put this recipe together this weekend.
Due to some time constraints, it would be easier to do the mash/sparge on friday night and the boil, etc. on saturday.
Does this sound like a good (or bad) idea to anyone? I can't see it affecting the beer - but I haven't done it before.

Thanks!

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It's just beer man.... they've been doing it for years......

I'm going to put this recipe together this weekend.
Due to some time constraints, it would be easier to do the mash/sparge on friday night and the boil, etc. on saturday.
Does this sound like a good (or bad) idea to anyone? I can't see it affecting the beer - but I haven't done it before.

I keep it covered up and you should have no issues. There is no first wort hops or anything either so should be clean to just start the boil the next day.

I'm bottling mine on Saturday, 4 weeks after brewing... spent the last 4 days at a convention drinking Guiness on tap so I've prepared my taste buds for a comparison. Btw, imho Guiness is an amazing brew... just amazing.